The unprecedented period during
which a third of all Premier League
matches were televised on free-to-air
channels will not continue at the start
of next season, despite games being
played behind closed doors. The league
will also stop allowing all matches to be
shown live in this country, instead
setting a limit of just over half of games.
As a result of government pressure
before the resumption of the Premier
League in mid-June, 33 of the 92 match-
es played before the season ended last
weekend were made available to view-
ers for free. Sky, which owns the largest
chunk of live broadcasting rights,
showed some matches on
non-subscription channels, while the
BBC screened Premier League match-
es live for the first time. All 92 of the
matches were televised live either for
free or on subscription channels, which
was also unprecedented for the league.
However, although fans will not be
allowed into Premier League stadiums
for at least the first three weeks of the
new season that is due to start on Sep-
tember 12 — and after that will only
return in limited numbers — the
league, and its broadcast partners Sky,
BT Sport and Amazon, has ruled out
extending the practice of making some
matches free, despite recent matches
attracting record viewing figures.
Clubs are under no pressure from
Whitehall now for a repeat of what
happened earlier in the year, while the
broadcasters are also keen to return to
their original pay TV agreements. The
Premier League paid a rebate to broad-
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Sp ort
Fulham take control after
first-leg victory in Cardiff
Championship play-off, page 59
Parker in driving seat
TV games to
be cut despite
ban on fans
Martyn Ziegler Chief Sports Reporter casters before the league resumed to
acknowledge the disruption to the
season, the lack of atmosphere at
behind-closed-doors matches and the
group of matches being shown for free.
The league’s prevailing view is that
the arrangements put in place in June
were for a period where the Covid-19
restrictions in society were much
greater than they are now — pubs and
restaurants were closed, and people
could not visit friends’ houses.
There will, however, still be consider-
able restrictions involving fans going to
matches in the new season. As revealed
by The Times last week, stadiums will be
at a maximum of 33 per cent full from
October 1 because of social-distancing
requirements, and as low as 17 per cent
full, with restrictions likely to be in
place for the whole season.
The return of fans will be dependent
on the success of pilot events. The
Premier League has suggested pre-
season friendlies as test events for
football, while the Women’s Super
League in early September is also being
considered. The FA had also offered the
Community Shield at Wembley on
August 30 as a pilot event but it is
understood that it is now looking
unlikely there will be any fans there.
Under the Sky, BT and Amazon
deals, 200 of the 380 Premier League
matches a season are shown live. Mak-
ing every match available live in June
and July had some successes — Sky set
a new record for viewers after making
the Merseyside derby free-to-air — but
the saturation coverage also led to situ-
ations where some matches attracted
Continued on page 61
Blue is the colour for Werner
Timo Werner, Chelsea’s new signing, joins his team-mates at training and can
look forward to Champions League football next season. Henry Winter, page 61England face
Celtic rivals
Alex Lowe Deputy Rugby Correspondent
Klopp’s 3.30am
call to Sir Alex
Paul Joyce
England are set to play Ireland, Wales
and Fiji as part of a proposed eight-
team autumn championship that
would feature two groups and a finals
day on December 5.
Scotland, France and Italy are
expected to be joined in the other group
by Japan. The Six Nations had
considered extending an invitation for
Georgia to be part of the championship,
but that plan is believed to have
changed at the end of last week.
England are due to play host to Ire-
land at Twickenham and could there-
fore be at home for the whole competi-
tion, with Wales looking to stage their
autumn Tests in London.
The RFU is hopeful of striking a
hosting arrangement with the WRU for
the use of Twickenham after the Welsh
government confirmed that supporters
Continued on page 56Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed Jürgen
Klopp telephoned him in the early
hours of the morning as the Liverpool
manager celebrated ending his club’s
30-year wait for title success.
The revered former Manchester
United manager said he received the
call at 3.30am as he congratulated
Klopp being named the League Man-
agers Association manager of the year
in a video message.
Ferguson, 78, was more responsible
than most for shunting Liverpool into
the wilderness by winning 13 league
titles during his reign at Old Trafford
but enjoys a good relationship with
Klopp, whom he sounded out about
succeeding him.
The Sir Alex Ferguson Trophy is
voted for by LMA members with Klopp
Continued on page 61